HILO, Hawai'i — Big Island police have found the body of a 34-year-old woman reported missing last month buried in a grave behind her home in the rural Orchidland Estates subdivision in Puna.

Friends of Dawn K. Gambsky, also known as Dawn Mancilla, last saw her at her Orchidland home in January. A friend reported her missing on July 27.

Police Lt. Mitchell Kanehailua said Gambsky lived with her husband on the Puna property, and said the husband has been cooperating with police and is not considered a suspect at this time. Kanehailua declined to say what the husband told police about her disappearance because the case is under investigation.

Police are investigating the case as a coroner's inquest and not as a homicide, Kanehailua said. "Right now we are concerned with the manner of death, and that's what the investigation is focusing on," he said.

Kanehailua said police learned Dawn Gambsky might be buried on the property, and obtained a search warrant for the property under a state law that makes it a misdemeanor to bury or otherwise dispose of a body without a permit.

Detectives served the search warrant on the property on 37th Avenue on Friday evening to look for possible burial sites, and began to excavate after a possible grave was found near the home to the rear of the structure, he said.

On Saturday detectives unearthed skeletal remains, and on Tuesday experts used dental records to identify the remains as Gambsky. The medical examiner said Gambsky likely died between December and February, Kanehailua said.

Gambsky earned money selling clothing for dogs on the Internet, and the couple were "pretty private people," Kanehailua said. Police had no record of any type of domestic discord in the household, and Dawn Gambsky was not known to be ill at the time she disappeared, he said.

In at least one case in the past, Puna residents have buried relatives on their property without permits, Kanehailua said. "It's unusual, but it's not unheard of," he said.

"On behalf of the department I want to express condolences to Dawn Gambsky's family," Kanehailua said. He said Gambsky's mother also lives on the Big Island.

Police ask anyone who may have any information about her to call Detective Rio Amon-Wilkins at 961-2386 or the Police Department's nonemergency line at 935-3311. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call CrimeStoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona. All CrimeStoppers information is kept confidential.